PARIS — A car dealer has denied charges filed against it in relation to a 2004 propane explosion and requested indemnity from any damages awarded in the case.

Lynn and Robert Paradis of Norway, as well as Dawn and Dennis Cyr of Oxford, have charged C.N. Brown and Ripley and Fletcher of Paris with negligence. The couples accuse the businesses of inadequately delivering propane to a residence owned by the Cyrs and occupied by the Paradises, leading to an explosion in November of 2004 that destroyed the home and injured Robert Paradis. The suit says that under the statute of “strict liability” the companies are liable for all injuries caused by the incident.

The lawsuit charges that “C.N. Brown does business in the Norway, Maine area under the name Ripley and Fletcher even though that is an independent corporation and it has not been given permission by the state of Maine to operate under that name.” Both companies have denied the charge.

Attorney Peter Malia states on behalf of Ripley and Fletcher that the company “got out of the heating oil and propane business in approximately 1990” and “owed no duty to deliver propane gas to the plaintiffs.” In a cross-claim against C.N. Brown, Malia says Ripley and Fletcher has operated solely as an auto dealership since selling its heating oil and propane business to C.N. Brown around 1990, and that C.N. Brown was solely responsible for all deliveries since then.

In the suit, attorney John Campbell charges that the propane supply at the house was cut off and the companies insisted that a debt related to the Country Way Restaurant, which the Paradises operated from 1996 to 2003, be paid. Campbell argues that the Paradises were current on the house’s heating bills and that the companies put up “repeated obstacles” to resuming service.

Campbell says that the propane was delivered on the same day as the blast by an unlicensed delivery person who did not test the lines or take other precautions. He says that Robert Paradis was burned in an explosion that occurred when he tried to light an oven pilot light. The Paradises were renting the house from the Cyrs; Dawn Cyr is Lynn Paradis’ sister.

According to its Web site, C.N. Brown was founded in 1948 and operates a number of Red Shield Heating Oil offices and Big Apple convenience stores throughout New England.

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